Republican Rep. Judy Biggert indicated Wednesday that she’s moving closer to supporting same-sex marriage, but ultimately said she’s not there yet and that it’s a matter for individual states to decide.

Democratic challenger Bill Foster had his own moment of vacillation during the final face-to-face meeting of the 11th Congressional District campaign. Foster said he didn’t believe in a Republican-backed plan to offer future seniors the option of receiving a subsidy for health care. When asked if it should be considered as an option to keep Medicare afloat, the Democrat said, “I have to think.”

The comments from two candidates for a west and southwest suburban congressional seat took place during WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.”

Biggert, who has long campaigned as a social moderate and fiscal conservative, said she has supported civil unions, but as a lawyer, see was concerned about the impact of same-sex marriage on such things as estate law and said it was “a matter for the state.”

“I’m close to reaching for gay marriages,” she said. After an exchange with Foster, Biggert added that “this country is moving very fast in this realm.”

Foster, a former congressman who opposed same-sex marriage two years ago in one newspaper questionnaire, said he supported “marriage equality” and was “not ambiguous” on the issue.

“She has not yet evolved. So, she's crawling out of the swamp or something,” said Foster, a scientist, after the debate. Asked if he, too, had evolved on the issue, Foster replied, “I'm all dry, fluffed off and happy to be a hominid.”

Both candidates touched on familiar campaign refrains. Foster took issue with Biggert’s support of the House Republican-backed budget offered by the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, and her opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Biggert countered that Foster’s support of a plan to allow the tax cuts originally imposed under President George W. Bush to expire on the first $250,000 of income would lead to unemployment and hurt an economic recovery.

Though Biggert said tax and revenue increases should be “on the table” in dealing with federal budget deficit, she also maintained that increasing the income-tax rate should not be considered. “We can talk about it, but raising taxes and not extending the (Bush-era) tax cuts would do very much damage,” she said.

Foster countered that Biggert had regularly voted for Bush fiscal policies that “drove us into debt and wrecked our economy.” But the Democrat also acknowledged he voted to extend the tax cuts as a congressman to forestall a tax increase on the middle class.

On the issue of the new Democratic-drawn congressional map, Biggert noted her previous district was sliced up into parts of six new districts. Foster moved into Naperville to run in the new 11th District.

“Both Judy and I were clobbered by the wizards of Springfield,” said Foster, who held a far west suburban congressional seat from 2008 until his defeat by freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren two years ago. Foster said the process of drawing districts to favor a party in power “lowers the reputation of politics in the public’s eyes enormously.”

Biggert, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, contended Foster had input with Democratic leaders as they were drawing the new boundaries. But Foster noted if he had stayed and ran from his previous residence, he would have been challenging Hultgren again — but this time in a more heavily Republican district.

The increasingly nasty race has drawn nearly $6 million in spending from outside groups. An ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee insinuates that Foster had inside knowledge from a 2008 closed-door meeting of congressional leaders that led him to sell investments before the economic downturn.

The spot offered no proof Foster was involved in such a meeting, leading several local TV stations to refuse to run it until it was changed, Foster’s campaign said.

The former congressman said he was not a party to any such meetings, nor did he use any inside information to sell investments. Foster noted that he sold his share of a family business and many other investments before taking office after a special election in March 2008 and his sale of a few remaining mutual funds that September was the last step in finalizing his divestment from interests that he said his votes in Congress could potentially affect.